Dave Chappelle Says “I Felt Like the Baboon”

Comedian Dave Chappelle went on CBS This Morning and was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey’s best friend TV journalist Gayle King. King asked Chappelle why he stepped away from the spotlight. To help explain, Chappelle referred to a nature show he watched. It was about “how a bushman finds water when it’s scarce.” Chappelle relays the episode: “They do what they call a salt dance. I didn’t know this but apparently baboons love salt.”

Chappelle goes on to talk about how they (the bushmen) put a lump of salt in a hole and wait for the baboon. When the baboon comes and sticks his hand in the hole and grabs the salt, the salt makes his hand bigger and he’s trapped. He can’t get his hand out. Chappelle says, ‘If he’s smart, he’d just let go of the salt.” But he’s not. The bushman comes, grabs the baboon and puts him in a cage and gives him all the salt he wants. When the baboon gets thristy, the bushman lets the baboon out and follows him to water. In that analogy, Chappelle says, “I felt like the baboon.”

Comedian Dave Chappelle went on CBS This Morning and was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey’s best friend TV journalist Gayle King. King asked Chappelle why he stepped away from the spotlight. To help explain, Chappelle referred to a nature show he watched. It was about “how a bushman finds water when it’s scarce.” Chappelle relays the...